Get past the jargon: betting

Don’t let betting jargon put you off. For example, you may hear phrases such as ‘price’, ‘fixed-odds’, ‘SP’, ‘odds-on’ or ‘on the nose’. These are easily explained:

Price: This just means the odds a betting operator is offering you on a particular horse.

Fixed-odds: A fixed-odds bet is one where you get the odds advertised by the betting operator at the time you placed the bet.

SP: This stands for Starting Price and is the official odds a horse started the race with. You can ask to place an SP bet with a bookmaker (but not the Tote). Some people do this if they think the horse they wish to bet on will start the race at a better price than is being advertised at the time, perhaps because of late money for another horse in the race.

Late money: You may hear this said when a horse is heavily backed in the final stages before a race.

Odds-on: When a horse is a strong favourite to win their price may be odds-on. This means you will make a profit of less than £1 for every £1 you bet on it. If the betting operator displays fractional prices, a horse that is odds-on will have a price where the larger number is on the bottom of the fraction i.e. 1/2. If a betting operator is using decimal odds, this will be displayed as a number less than 2.00.

Evens (Even money or EVS): When a horse is strong favourite to win their price may be described as Evens. This means you will make a profit of £1 for every £1 you bet on it. If a betting operator is using decimal odds, this will be displayed as 2.00.

Long odds: This means a horse is expected to have a low chance of winning the race, but if they do you will receive many multiples of your stake back as winnings if you have bet on it. For example, a horse priced at odds of 50/1 would be described as having long odds.

Short odds:This means a horse is expected to have a high chance of winning the race, but if they do you will make a relatively small profit on your stake if you have bet on it. For example, a horse priced at odds of 6/4 would be described as having short odds.